Vitamin C - which form is best?

I have trouble swallowing tablets and have been looking for an easier-to-deal-with version of Vitamin C, of which I'm currently taking 6g a day and titrating up.

However, in the course of my search I've seen that there's all sorts of stuff: Ester-C, sodium ascorbate rather than ascorbic acid, with/without bioflavinoids, chewable (with a fair bit of sugar), crystals...

I find the ascorbic acid very unpleasantly sour but would rather be drinking or chewing something rather than swallowing a whole tablet.

So two questions, really:

1. biomedically, which is the best form of Vitamin C, particularly for PWME?

2. for people who don't like to swallow big tablets, what's the best option?

Ester-C also works best for me and many others who try it. Ester-C is just C with bioflavonoids, you could take them separately. I use both tablet and also the powder form. Flavonoids make a huge difference for me, I also have straight flavonoid tablets and take those when I need to relax, as they are vasoactive.

Tried Liposomal C, it is powerful but expensive, and does not give me the energy boost of Ester-C.

Hi Sasha, i use ascorbic acid in powder form and can handle the sour taste. i take 2 g a day in two doses. I suppose some peoples stomaches cant handle the ascorbic acid but i find it ok and you can mix it with juice to make it more palatable.

6g a day is a lot to take all the time, i dont know about other forms of vit c but that much ascorbic acid can put you in danger of kidney stones. Are you trying to reach bowel tolerance? i must admit ive never managed to reach it -it seemed like a mad amount of vit c to be taking so i just stick to my 2g a day.
I hope you find the best type for you, take care, Justy.xx

Hi Sasha, i use ascorbic acid in powder form and can handle the sour taste. i take 2 g a day in two doses. I suppose some peoples stomaches cant handle the ascorbic acid but i find it ok and you can mix it with juice to make it more palatable.

6g a day is a lot to take all the time, i dont know about other forms of vit c but that much ascorbic acid can put you in danger of kidney stones. Are you trying to reach bowel tolerance? i must admit ive never managed to reach it -it seemed like a mad amount of vit c to be taking so i just stick to my 2g a day.
I hope you find the best type for you, take care, Justy.xx

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Hi there, im currently trying to give my immune system a boost and im taking 1000mg tabs of Vit-C a day. Ive seen a lotta people say they have two grams, i didnt know i was able to take more, it says on the bottle not to exceed the stated does. Is there an upper limit to how much Vit-C the body can absorb?

Hi Justy - yes, I was heading for bowel tolerance because I was assuming that's our bodies' limit for what it needs but now you actually raise the question, I wonder if "can tolerate" and "need" are the same thing.

During my first illness (I was confined to bed for several years, then had a remission for several years, and am now mostly housebound) I titrated up to 45g/day of Vitamin C. I didn't get kidney stones but maybe I would have if I had kept going!

It's partly because I was anticipating that I might get up to such high doses that I would like to find a form of Vitamin C that I find easy to take.

I think I will start a new thread on this "can tolerate" vs "need" thing - thanks for raising the issue!

Absorbic acid form is the one most harshest on the stomach and teeth so if taking that it is best to prepare the gut first by aking some apple cider vinegar or yogurt first.. then wash out mouth after taking to help look after the teeth.

I do the same. I take 2g of liposomal C a day, one dose in the in the morning and one in the evening. I understand the liposomal C is absorbed into the blood at similar rates as IV vitamin C, close to 100%. It is expensive - but it can be made at home relatively cheaply too.

Before that, I took several 250mg tabs of vitamin C with flavonoids during the day, every 2 hours or so. Because of the poorer and decreasing amount absorbed from the larger doses, I opted for e.g. 8 x 250mg a day rather than 2 x 1000mg a day.

Hi Justy - yes, I was heading for bowel tolerance because I was assuming that's our bodies' limit for what it needs but now you actually raise the question, I wonder if "can tolerate" and "need" are the same thing.

During my first illness (I was confined to bed for several years, then had a remission for several years, and am now mostly housebound) I titrated up to 45g/day of Vitamin C. I didn't get kidney stones but maybe I would have if I had kept going!

It's partly because I was anticipating that I might get up to such high doses that I would like to find a form of Vitamin C that I find easy to take.

I think I will start a new thread on this "can tolerate" vs "need" thing - thanks for raising the issue!

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Hi sasha, wow 45g sounds lots. Was that orally, daily? Did you feel taking this high dose helped you to go into the remission you mentioned? Is this why you want to take high doses again? Thanks in advance.

The people who make Liposomal C also sell a book by Thomas Levy MD JD who compares Liposomal C with intravenous dosing and claims that Liposomal achieves higher plasma concentration. I found the best prices on Ebay for the product. I also looked into buying it as a distrubutor, I think the minimum order is 12 cases. Then my vitamin c phase passed. As far as the best form of C, I would guess it is what you tolerate best. For me, ascorbic acid just wrecked my stomach.

The people who make Liposomal C also sell a book by Thomas Levy MD JD who compares Liposomal C with intravenous dosing and claims that Liposomal achieves higher plasma concentration.

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My doctor prescribed this form, though the box says lypo-spheric vit C, then underneath it says that it is delivered via "smart" lyposomal nano-spheres. I have been getting it from LiveOn but I'll check Amazon.

Hi sasha, wow 45g sounds lots. Was that orally, daily? Did you feel taking this high dose helped you to go into the remission you mentioned? Is this why you want to take high doses again? Thanks in advance.

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Hi anniekim - yes, that was oral, 45g/day. And it had absolutely zero, zero effect! I remained dead flat stable (actually, dead flat in bed) and after probably a year or so, stopped. My remission began several years later.

It's not that I want to take such a high dose again - it's just that I thought that the way that you determined your current optimal dose of Vit C was to titrate up to bowel tolerance and then cut back by 10%. I thought that, because I'd ended up on 45g/day before, I might do so again.

I really like the idea that I should only take about 4-6g max! I hate having to swallow loads of tablets. Each meal becomes a sort of tablet delivery system!